- How to Win Friends and Influence People
- Nonviolent communication
Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
131–140 of 143 posts
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#132Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman! I first read it as a college student and have read it many times since. Feynman was a fascinating character. Reading about him taught me to appreciate the value of curiosity.
What Do You Care What Other People Think? is another book by Feynman written in the same style. I think Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman! is better but love both of them.
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you or the author mean by "implement things orthogonally? I (somewhat) know what the word "orthogonally" means, but not sure what the phrase means in this context.
That's an interesting metaphor because I picked it up somewhere else, but it might well be that Hunt and Thomas actually coined this phrase in "The Pragmatic Programmer". If you think of orthogonality in geometry, you can describe any N-dimensional vector space through a set of N orthogonal vectors (say the unit vectors in X, Y, Z). "Orthogonal" in this case means that moving something along one of those (say the X a…
Thanks for the reply.
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#134Come as You Are by Emily Nagoski. It is sold as a book about human sexuality, with a somewhat click-baity subtitle, but turned out to be a beautifully compassionate invitation to self-acceptance and kindness in the context of sexuality, trauma, relationships.
It has some of the best-written (no-fluff, non-patronizing, direct-while-gentle-and-kind) description of trauma and dealing with trauma of all kinds.
One of the life-changing premises for me (paraphrased): 1 in 5 to 1 in 3 women have had trauma-inducing experiences, from sexual coercion to assault to rape. While only 5% of the population acts as (mostly male) perpetrators, there are all these other (also majority male) partners who live with the women carrying the trauma and dealing with it. Doing this without any kind of understanding or education is very difficult, and even a small amount of understanding goes a long way.
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#135HN and tech spheres can tend to have more people (especially male) who struggle with socialising with others and romance on top of every other part of the human condition. To that end, I recommend (in order): Robert Glover - No More Mr. Nice Guy Mark Manson - The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck Mark Manson - Models For those looking into reading into masculinity (to understand yourself or other masculine people: Davi…
Ordered several of these after studying reviews/summaries, thank you!
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#136HN and tech spheres can tend to have more people (especially male) who struggle with socialising with others and romance on top of every other part of the human condition. To that end, I recommend (in order): Robert Glover - No More Mr. Nice Guy Mark Manson - The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck Mark Manson - Models For those looking into reading into masculinity (to understand yourself or other masculine people: Davi…
@TheCapeGreek -- I saw this comment a few days ago, I bough the book you recommended `Robert Glover - No More Mr. Nice Guy` and I read it in a day. I will be replaying it again and again and working hard to apply principles from it. I just wanted to thank you! The recommendation in your comment is changing somebody's life (mine). Thank you.
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#137All of them, as often as possible. There's no 'magic bullet' book, but having a habit of reading is a great way toward personal growth.
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#138'Bullshit Jobs' by David Graeber. This was very confrontational.
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#139If you're still religious, and you think maybe you shouldn't be, read Critique of Religion and Philosophy by Walter Kaufmann. It cured me.
On the other hand, if you are not spiritual and somehow feel life is about more... maybe try one of the holy scriptures. I myself have been profoundly affected by The Bible. It has inspired many people over the centuries and remains the best selling book of all time. It provides innumerable famoous quotes. It's been credited with amazing things. If that's not your cup of tea, try scripture of a different sort. Religi…
Maybe I'll live long enough to get religion again? Such possibilities don't trouble me. I suspect 25 years was long enough to absorb most of the valuable lessons, qualities, and comforts available through religion.
Re: Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
On the other hand, if you are not spiritual and somehow feel life is about more... maybe try one of the holy scriptures. I myself have been profoundly affected by The Bible. It has inspired many people over the centuries and remains the best selling book of all time. It provides innumerable famoous quotes. It's been credited with amazing things. If that's not your cup of tea, try scripture of a different sort. Religi…
Maybe I'll live long enough to get religion again? Such possibilities don't trouble me. I suspect 25 years was long enough to absorb most of the valuable lessons, qualities, and comforts available through religion.
Try again, and then again - the layers of meaning in the Bible are profound if you have the intellect to dive into them. It's brilliant in addressing different problems at different stages of life and ultimately about consciousness and something beyond. I'm not advocating it as a belief, just try trusting it and not setting up a straw man. Read "the divine conspiracy" by Dallas Willard or 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson.